Dragon Age 2 - David Gaider Interview @ Geek and Sundry

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
Because he retcons a lot and then gives "suck it up, princess" responses on the BioWare Social forum.

I've never read any nasty posts from him on BSN, he's always come across a nice guy. maybe I've just read different posts, can't say.

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
For example, look at how he handled Leliana. If you killed her in DA:O she reappears rather alive in DA2. When asked on the forums why this had been done, he said something like (paraphrasing) 'just because you killed her doesn't mean she's dead.'

Sounds like he was joking. Besides, Gaider didn't write Leliana.

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
And changes entire personalities - look at how Anders morphed from a witty rogue in DAA to emo terrorist nutjob in DA2. And changes entire races - see how the Qunari were reinvented from DA:O to DA2. Not built upon, but reinvented. Lots of integrity from everyone!

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
The moment a serious RPG company allows a person to write and star in a game (MoTA), whose main attribute is their appearance (and perceived sexual appeal to a target demographic), then that fact, imho, makes such a person's appearance a legitimate topic of discussion - be it praise or criticism. This is, after all, what BioWare intended by making Talis a carbon copy of Felicia Day.

Felicia Day is famous for writing, procuding and acting in The Guild. If the gaming press concentrates on her looks, it says more about the gaming press than about her.

Originally Posted by Mr Smiley
So "mutton-face" is merely descriptive? An objective obeservation? It doesn't matter. Since her looks are irrelevant, KapitanUnterhose disqualifies himself all the same.

Are you living in a fantasy world where how a woman looks and uses her looks is irrelevant?

The reason we know her name and so many appreciate her, is because she's moderately attractive. If she'd been ugly - she would have been ridiculed away - and if she was beautiful - she'd never be taken seriously.

You may not like that part of our world (I certainly don't) - but I find that pretending it's not relevant laughably removed from reality.

Making things personal is another way of disqualifying yourself. It's very common on the Internet. You try to discuss me instead of my opinion. Probably because you have nothing interesting to say about the matter at hand.

It depends on the circumstances. I will agree that the observation was not necessary, but it was not altogether irrelevant to the problem of modern journalism and Bioware in particular. It seemed to underline how superficial everything they do actually is.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Are you living in a fantasy world where how a woman looks and uses her looks is irrelevant?

The reason we know her name and so many appreciate her, is because she's moderately attractive. If she'd been ugly - she would have been ridiculed away - and if she was beautiful - she'd never be taken seriously.

You may not like that part of our world (I certainly don't) - but I find that pretending it's not relevant laughably removed from reality.

And how is this Felicia Day's fault? Or how does it okay your behaviour?

Still, I don't agree Felicia Day's main attribute is her looks. I didn't play DAII but AFAIK the Tallis add-on (which she also wrote) was better-received than the main game. I thought the few episodes of The Guild I've seen were funny, and she wrote them too. Felicia Day, like a lot of females in this industry, can't help it if the gaming press wants to concentrate in their looks and forget about the things they've actually *done*. And it certainly shouldn't be used as an excuse to start posting nasty remarks about their appearance online. That's just bad behaviour.

Originally Posted by Raggie
Sorry, I confused you with KapitanUnterhosen.

Still, I don't agree Felicia Day's main attribute is her looks. I didn't play DAII but AFAIK the Tallis add-on (which she also wrote) was better-received than the main game. I thought the few episodes of The Guild I've seen were funny, and she wrote them too. Felicia Day, like a lot of females in this industry, can't help it if the gaming press wants to concentrate in their looks and forget about the things they've actually *done*. And it certainly shouldn't be used as an excuse to start posting nasty remarks about their appearance online. That's just bad behaviour.

I'm not saying it's her main attribute in objective terms. I'm saying her looks are directly tied to her popularity - whether we like it or not.

Originally Posted by Raggie
I don't argue that. I just argue that it's not an excuse to start calling her a mutton-face.

In my world, you don't need an excuse to express an opinion. Especially not on a public forum meant to share thoughts and opinions.

I will say, however, that I don't agree that she has a "mutton-face" as I understand the term.

She's a cute looking girl, to my mind.

Can't say I think much of "The Guild" or anything she's done that I'm aware of. It seems to be pretty trivial entertainment with absolutely no depth or significant contribution to gaming. But I admit, I don't follow news on her or what she does.

Incidentally, I think of Bioware in similar terms. Good looking games with little depth or contribution to gaming. In fact, I think they're hurting the art - but that's just my subjective position.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
In my world, expressing an opinion about a person that's not present (especially a person who has chosen to be in the limelight), on a public forum, has nothing to do with manners.

We live in different worlds, then. And how do you know Felicia day isn't reading? It's a public forum and she's a gamer. Nobody here writes with their real names. As far as you know, *I* could be her.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Are you living in a fantasy world where how a woman looks and uses her looks is irrelevant?

In such a world I would have no reason to argue otherwise, would I?

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
You may not like that part of our world (I certainly don't) - but I find that pretending it's not relevant laughably removed from reality.

I'm not pretending. It has no real relevance. If you pay attention to the looks of an interviewer, you are being distracted from the content of the actual interview. (Which might be a good thing if the interview is boring.) I agree that It's a fact of life that people are distracted by appearances all the time. That doesn't make appearances relevant, though.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
It depends on the circumstances. I will agree that the observation was not necessary, but it was not altogether irrelevant to the problem of modern journalism and Bioware in particular. It seemed to underline how superficial everything they do actually is.

If KapitanUnterhosen intended to underline that superficiality rather than being superficial himself, he failed to communicate that to me.

Originally Posted by Raggie
We live in different worlds, then. And how do you know Felicia day isn't reading? It's a public forum and she's a gamer. Nobody here writes with their real names. As far as you know, *I* could be her.

There's no reason to expect it.

In that same way, I can't see how it would be bad manners to express a negative opinion about someone you don't expect to be listening - only to find that they're standing in the next room without you knowing about it.

Having a negative opinion about how a person looks is not only natural, it's inevitable. If it's "bad manners" to express that opinion when you're not expecting them to hear about it - then we do indeed live in different worlds.

ESPECIALLY if you're deliberately exposing yourself to the general public.

Thanks NFLed, that was just my take on it, in my opinion this you tube video is quite skippable.

About this gamer girl who did the interview, never heard of her, but yea, she is "ok", but compared to a typical gamer girl, I agree with the way DArtagnan put it, she is moderately attractive.

I'm a little surprsied at the surprise or outrage that someone commented on her looks, it kind of goes with the territory of being a man (I'm assuming the conversation is being made by mostly males in this thread), in terms of you do judge women on first appearance by how attractive they are, this shouldn't be shocking to anyone in my humble opinion. Superficial, sure. Reality? Yep.

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
I'm a little surprsied at the surprise or outrage that someone commented on her looks, it kind of goes with the territory of being a man (I'm assuming the conversation is being made by mostly males in this thread), in terms of you do judge women on first appearance by how attractive they are, this shouldn't be shocking to anyone in my humble opinion. Superficial, sure. Reality? Yep.

Originally Posted by Mr Smiley
In such a world I would have no reason to argue otherwise, would I?

What? In such a world you'd actually have a good reason.

I'm not pretending. It has no real relevance. If you pay attention to the looks of an interviewer, you are being distracted from the content of the actual interview. (Which might be a good thing if the interview is boring.) I agree that It's a fact of life that people are distracted by appearances all the time. That doesn't make appearances relevant, though.

Are you seriously suggesting the appearance of Felicia Day is irrelevant to her public persona?

Maybe it SHOULD be irrelevant - but if that was the case, we might not ever have heard of her.

If KapitanUnterhosen intended to underline that superficiality rather than being superficial himself, he failed to communicate that to me.

Are you saying that because you didn't understand his meaning, he's implicitly at fault somehow?

I think his meaning was blatantly clear - and I find it surprising that you didn't get it. Whether he was being superficial as well, I can't really say. I don't think that's relevant to the message.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Having a negative opinion about how a person looks is not only natural, it's inevitable. If it's "bad manners" to express that opinion when you're not expecting them to hear about it - then we do indeed live in different worlds.

In my world, badmouthing people who are not present is called "gossip".